4529. St Werburghs tunnel (298)

It feels like an age since I last saw a collaborative piece by Daz Cat and CDTC, probably because it has been an age. Neither artist has been out and about much this year, certainly nowhere near as much as during the lock down periods.

CDTC and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2022
CDTC and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2022

This is rather a nice piece, working to both artist’s strengths. To the left is an exploding head with a comic book orange ‘KAPOW’ burst across the character’s eyes by CDTC, painted with nice clean lines and interesting feature shading in the face. To the right, a rather sullen-looking cat wearing a fetching blue hoodie looks to be prepping a wall with a long roller. Again, care and attention have gone into this piece which is very nicely finished. This was a pleasant surprise to stumble across in the tunnel.

4528. North Street

I have said it many times, but it is worth repeating, that one of the additional benefits of Upfest is that artists often leave a little bit extra, over and above their ‘official’ pieces. This shutter piece is a ‘quick one’ by Irony that he painted before leaving Bristol. How privileged we are.

Irony, North Street, Bristol, June 2022
Irony, North Street, Bristol, June 2022

This piece is so good, and leaves us guessing so much about the woman in the portrait. We are teased by Irony, and it is what we can’t see that is as important as what we can see. I have spoken repeatedly on Natural Adventures about the talent of Irony, and this piece reinforces his status as a world class street artist. A magnificent portrait piece.

4527. North Street

Weekends, early mornings and evenings reveal a whole extra opportunity for viewing street art, with the expanse of shop front shutters on view. In North Street, Bedminster, probably about a third of all the pieces on view are on shutters, and if you aren’t there at the right time they are pieces you simply will not see.

Taboo, North Street, Bristol, June 2022
Taboo, North Street, Bristol, June 2022

This fine shutter piece from Taboo is the second I have posted recently and is only a stone’s throw from his first. Taboos unconventional writing style presents an unusual TABOO, with a distorted Mickey Mouse face making up the first ‘O’. This is classic taboo and so good to see. I like his work and his style which is a shift from more conventional works we are used to seeing, and keeps things fresh.

Taboo, North Street, Bristol, May 2022
Taboo, North Street, Bristol, May 2022

4526. The Full Moon

When Zake first appeared on my radar a few years ago, I managed to pretty much keep on top of his work, only rarely missing a piece in Bristol. These days, he is painting so much in so many spots, it is difficult to keep up. I have been meaning to photograph this one in the Full Moon in Stokes Croft for some time, and finally got round to it a week or two ago.

Zake, The Full Moon, Bristol, June 2022
Zake, The Full Moon, Bristol, June 2022

Zake has sprayed this fine monkey in a spacesuit (a theme I have seen before) with a happy moon behind on a gate at the back of the pub courtyard garden. As ever, the faces are beautifully painted and Zake has used his highlighting technique to great effect, with blue shadowing in the creases of the features on both faces. Very nice work from Zake.

4525. Dean Lane skate park (501)

I genuinely thought that this wall would become redundant when work began on redeveloping the building about a year ago, a suspicion exacerbated when they put some windows in the wall. My fears may have been unfounded, as the wall appears to be intact and has regular makeovers, many of them quite fantastic, like this PWA collaborative wall from a short while ago.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022

The three artists are Face 1st, Chill and Soap, and together they have created an upbeat and rather fun triptych. Face 1st on the left ha painted one of his traditional smiling face characters whose hair is made up of the letters FACE – full of joy.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022

In the middle, Chill has created one of his cartoon-style line drawings with quite a story going on. I don’t know what the story is, but it includes a bird, a rose and a scroll with the artist’s name on it. More mischief and fun.

Soap, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
Soap, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022

To the right is Soap’s contribution in which he continues the colour selections, backfilling his letters spelling SOAP and featuring (a many of his posts do) the Ice King from Adventure Time – a cartoon series that sadly passed me by.  Nice work from this PWA trio.

4524. M32 Cycle path (177)

Very short of time today, so this write-up will be relatively brief. Klashwhensober is a lovely guy who is smashing out pieces all over the place, and I find it quite hard to keep up with them, so I have started to gather them up, writing about more than one per post. If I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t be able to share them all.

Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022
Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022

This selection are all recent pieces along the M32 Cycle path, each very different, but in the Klashwhensober style. This first one spells out KLASH in lovely 3D letters with a colourful and imaginative array of fills and given a bit of pink splat treatment for good measure.

Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022
Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022

The second piece, pretty much opposite the first, is once again full of colour and dynamism, spelling out SOBA, some patterns in the lower half of the letters are similar to those in the first piece.  I rather like the explosion in the middle of the letters, which has contrasting effects above and below the transition line.

Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022
Klashwhensober, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2022

The final piece is a few yards further along the path, spelling SOBER, and is once again a tidy piece with a nice 3D effect and central vanishing point. The theme with all three of these seems to be around explosions of some kind or another, bright lights and colour emanating from a central point and radiating outwards. I suspect there is some deep conscious or unconscious meaning here – I shall have to ask him next time I see him.

4523. Upfest 2022 (20)

Mazcan produced my absolute favourite collaboration of last year’s Upfest 75 walls in 75 days (75×75) event, so it was a great pleasure to meet her while painting the second of two portraits, both in Greville Smyth Park over the two days of the festival.

Mazcan, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Mazcan, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

The portrait, you might recognise as Uma Thurman and in my view, is an excellent likeness in her stylised form. It was interesting to see how quickly Mazcan was able to produce this piece, which was a bit of a bonus extra piece, using up one of the spare boards available on the second day.

Mazcan, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Mazcan, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

When I see art like this, I realise how lucky we are in Bristol to host Europe’s largest street art festival in the shape of Upfest, and I offer huge respect to Steve and Emma who together with their team manage to organise a truly phenomenal event on such a regular basis. Lovely stuff.

Mazcan, King William Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21
Mazcan, King William Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21

4522. Upfest 2022 (19)

How wonderful to see a familiar Bristol artist taking up one of the semi-permanent walls at Upfest this year. The artist in question is the magnificent Kid Crayon with the first of two Upfest pieces, the other being on a temporary board in Greville Smyth Park.

Kid Crayon, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Kid Crayon, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This rather rare (these days) street piece by Kid Crayon features his name in blues and pinks, nicely worked around the notice board on the wall and a beautiful cartoon-style portrait. The portrait of a silver-haired woman wearing a choker round her neck, is a fine portrait indeed and works so well with his style. The best bit is a return of a floating crayon just in front of the woman’s mouth. It is so good to see Kid Crayon hitting walls again, I only hope he finds time to keep up the momentum.